The Girl Above the Horizon
by AZN-Meo
Summary: When he was in dire need of help, she came to his aid and helped rescue the entire world. Now, 3 years on, Henry must repay her, as he ventures into the Digital World, searching for the same girl and helping her fight the darkness that seeks to destroy her. HenryxAlice, with smatterings of JerixTakato and RyoxRika
1. A girl from the past

A Girl from the Past

For millions of people around the world, the realm of dreams is a form of escape. Every day they would get up and complete their 9 to 5 jobs, struggling to get through the day, only to reach back home, grab a quick dinner and float away into the seas of imagination. In this place they can let all their worries roam free, not caring for what happened hours before or what might come to be, but instead live out their own fantasies, enjoying the moment while they can before repeating their monotonous cycle all over again.

Needless to say, a certain 15 year old blue-haired boy didn't have all these problems that adults have. For now, Henry Wong was one of these carefree individuals, just passing through from one adventure to the next. Having just completed a race around the world against a surprisingly fast turtle, Henry landed nimbly on an unknown beach. As he gazed out into the ocean he let out a satisfied sigh, taking in the picturesque sunrise across the skyline. A warm orange glow shined back at him, its rays making the waters in its wake sparkle.

_You know, for someone who spends a lot of time indoors, I've painted quite a creative scene here_, Henry thought. As he turned his attention inland his mind started to form several wooden huts along the beach, all styled in the form of some holiday home he might have seen on TV or in a travel brochure. Walking towards the nearest hut, his mind started to populate the surroundings, starting with a spritely little creature in an adorably sized vendor's uniform. With his two purple-tipped ears flapping in the breeze, the wide-eyed Calumon was humming a cheerful tune to himself, bouncing along his merry way.

"Ice cream, ice cream, get them cold! Buy them quick before I turn old!" he shouted, skipping along as more people appeared before Henry, materialising in various beach attire. Some of the attendees were already lounging on deck chairs, while little kids ran past Henry with beach balls and Frisbees in tow, ready for a good splash in the ocean. As Henry approached the huts another familiar creature appeared, this time a large red reptile with black markings on his face, though he seemed to be wearing a court dress, and mounted on his nose was a minute pair of arm-less glasses. When Henry finally got within earshot of Guilmon, he couldn't help but laugh, as Guilmon spouted various verses of Shakespeare, all from different plays but flowed effortlessly into one monologue. As long as he could remember Guilmon was never the most eloquent of speakers, and though Henry did note some improvements over the last 3 years, he did not expect to hear the reptile quote the Bard any time soon in the real world.

"I wish I can remember this in the morning. The others would get a kick out of a Shakespearean Guilmon," Henry said to himself as the laughing finally subsided.

"Henry! Over here!"

When Henry span round to look at who called him he felt his cheeks blush as two girls ran towards him in rather revealing swimsuits. One of the girls had long red hair, wearing a white two piece which very much complimented her model figure, a gift blessed by her mother. The other girl had shoulder length brown hair, with one lock tied in a green bow. She wore a green two piece which had a perfect contrast with her eyes, and managed to fit to her body like a glove and lift in all the right places. Though Henry considered them to be very close friends, he still had to admit that Rika Nonaka and Jeri Katou have grown to be very cute over the years. It probably didn't help his situation that they both seemed to be running in ridiculously slow motion, with each step making Henry uncomfortably aroused. When they finally arrived they each took one of Henry's arms, trying to coax him along to who knows what. At this point Henry wasn't sure if he should be praising or cursing his subconscious for putting him in such an awkward yet exciting position.

"Come on, Henry," Jeri teased, as she squeezed Henry's arm tighter, pushing two very noticeable mounds into his bare skin. "We just want you to come and play with us."

"That's right," Rika crooned, stroking Henry's thigh, slowly moving towards the middle, "We just want to see if what they say is true: That you really can handle two of us at once."

_Maybe I shouldn't mention this ENTIRE dream to the others_, Henry pondered, as the two Tamers continued to entice him into doing all sorts of things with reckless abandon.

Before he even gave an answer to Dream-Rika and Dream-Jeri, however, Henry spotted the world dissolving. Yet this time was different, and instead of floating away to a new place he felt his senses were beginning to increase. As the final scene from the beach faded to black another light began to glow. Before long it was growing to fill Henry's entire vision, and soon Henry suddenly felt aware of his entire surroundings. The world around him began to rebuild into a stone structure, something akin to a medieval fort, yet built out of maroon bricks instead of dull grey. As Henry tried to take in the rapid building of this enclosure around him he noticed that his feet felt like they were not simply treading on formless clouds, as were the norm in his dreams, but solid stone. Each of his toes could feel the bricks beneath him with surprising realism, and he could feel the hairs on his arms stand on end as a cold wind swept past.

_Okay, something definitely doesn't make sense here, _Henry started, looking outside the nearby window to see grasslands and mountains being built layer by layer, as if they were being downloaded into view. After the last peak of the mountain was in place, Henry turned back to look at the room he was in, and instantly did a double take. There, in the middle of a room, was a four poster bed, and lying in it was a girl, apparently in a deep sleep.

"Sorry about this, didn't mean to come in unannounced," Henry mumbled, though he appeared to be apologising to himself rather than the girl in the bed. Seeing that he did not get a response, Henry took a cautionary step towards her. A sense of familiarity seemed to come from her, and as he approached Henry started to notice her features more prominently. Judging by her body she looked to be no older than he was, around 15 to 16 years old, with golden blond hair flowing effortlessly around her, down to the small of her back. Henry breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed she was at least sleeping, with the rise in her chest as she took a small breath in her peaceful slumber. Henry couldn't help himself, but when he finally reached the bedside he thought she was very beautiful. After standing by her side for a few moments a chirping noise came from behind a door which Henry didn't notice before. Yet instead of opening the door the creature behind the chirps just floated through it. It was an odd little creature, with long white arms and a thin white antenna, and a permanent grin on its face. The creature floated over to the girl, and placing it hands above her it began to emit a soft warm glow. With the creature's appearance Henry's whereabouts became instantly known to him.

"If that is a DigiGnome, then that must mean I'm in the Digital World," Henry reasoned, staring from the DigiGnome in front of him to the girl on the bed. "Which means she must be a Tamer of sorts. But why is she lying here, and why do I get the feeling I know her…"

As Henry traced his memory back, his mind brought up a particularly battle worn image, spawned from the day the D-Reaper attacks were happening. There Henry stood with Rika and his best friend Takato, where all hope seemed lost. At that point a Dobermon appeared, bringing with it the ability to Biomerge. And with him was a girl around his age, dressed in a goth Lolita fashion style, with her blond hair tied in two pigtails…

"Wait, could it be? Are you really-"

* * *

"HEEEENRYYYYYYYYYY! WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"

SMACK!

Henry bolted up, the offending pillow falling off his face. Initially wide eyed, he soon turned to look and glare at the would-be assailant, who was at this moment laughing at his successful attack. A bunny with overly large green and white ears with a horn on his forehead, Terriermon rolled about on the floor, giggling merrily at Henry's expense.

"You should've seen your face! It looked like someone grabbed a stick and shoved it where the sun don't shine!" Terriermon continued to giggle until tears started streaming from his eyes, "Oh man, I wish I had a camera!"

"Very funny, wise guy," Henry said sarcastically. As the sleep slowly left his eyes Henry too started to see the funnier side of things, "Now is there a reason why you couldn't wake me up normally?"

"Two reasons," Terriermon said, jumping onto Henry's bed and holding up two fingers, with mischief in his eyes, "First, because for once I was awake before you, and could definitely not pass up this prime opportunity! And second, because we're meeting up with the others at the park in 1 hour, so get your butt moving mister!"

* * *

**Author's Note**: Congratulations! You made it to the end of my first Chapter! Have a cupcake :P Welcome to my debut story as a fanfic writer, something which has taken a long time to finally let out. Few notes about the story: Going to be the English version of Digimon Tamers, since that is what I'm more comfortable with. Also the uploading will be sporadic, depending on how much work I have or how many ideas I need to form into words.

Fun little competition: See if you can work out where I got my inspiration for my title from. To give you a hint, the first series was in 2011. No prizes to speak of, except my bountiful gratitude ;) Leave a review with the answer, or PM me to talk about Digimon, I don't mind :P, and I'll see you next time!


	2. Reunion

Reunion

"Wh-what?!"

Henry jumped out of bed, quickly glancing at the alarm next to him. Having confirmed Terriermon wasn't playing tricks on him he dashed out of his room into what could be considered an accelerated version of his morning routine. Needless to say Terriermon didn't help his situation, as he positioned himself in awkward parts of the hallway, determined to delay Henry as he rushes between bedroom and bathroom.

"Honestly, Henry, moumantai!" Terriermon goaded, as Henry sped out of the bathroom half shaved. "Just because you're a few minutes late doesn't mean the others are going to turn on you."

"They may not turn on me, but it's still rude to turn up late when we organised this weeks ago," Henry explained as he took off his shirt again, realising it was worn the wrong way round. "In any case some of us need more time in the morning preparing themselves to venture into the general public, unlike you who rolls out of bed just to get ready, maybe once in a while drop a bucket of water on your head."

"I don't see the problem, I'm sure they won't mind if you appear a bit scruffy. Unless you were trying to impress someone," Terriermon had a scheming little glint in his eye, "So who is it? Could it be the innocent Jeri Katou? Or maybe you're a glutton for punishment and pushing for Rika."

For some strange reason Henry began to blush, though he couldn't remember why, "Yeah they're cute and all, but I don't see them that way, it'll get too weird. Besides, they have other people vying for their affections."

Before Terriermon could respond there was a knock on the door, and standing in the doorway stood a chocolate version of Terriermon, except with three horns and pink highlights. Next to Lopmon stood a girl in off-pink trousers and a Chinese blouse. She wore her hair in two small buns and was currently scowling at her brother for taking his time.

"Henryyyyyyyy," Suzy started, "If you don't get a move on we're going to miss the train, and we'll be even later after that to meet the others!"

"Relax, Suzy," Terriermon replied, "I'm sure your 'fwiends' are gonna still be at the park when we get there."

Suzy puffed out her cheeks in irritation."Hey, I was 9 years old at the time, and r's were really hard to pronounce!"

"Now now, Suzy, Terriermon was only teasing," Lopmon said calmingly, "Though we really should get a move on."

"I know, I know." With one final check of his hair, Henry was finally ready to step into the open world. "Okay guys, let's go. If we hurry we might be able to catch the train on time!"

* * *

After a frantic dash to the train station, the Wong gang jumped onto the first train in the nick of time, and soon arrived at the park only a couple of minutes late. Once they caught their breaths back they walked over to Guilmon's hideout, where they saw the rest of the Digimon Tamers.

"Henry Wong, late for a Tamers get together? The world must be ending!" Kazu joked. He was one of the taller boys of the group, yet always wore the same cap, even from 3 years ago.

"Really?! Then we should get you to safety Kazu! Though I don't know how to protect you from the end of the world…" Guardromon, Kazu's partner, started to panic. A bulky robot digimon seemingly made up of steam engine parts, Guardromon started to look around for a suitable place to shelter his Tamer from the coming Apocalypse.

"It's a phrase, nimrod. Honestly, has anything I taught you over the last couple of years sunk in?" Kazu sighed at the social ineptitude of his partner.

"You can't really talk Kazu, you only just got here a couple of seconds before Henry and Suzy did," Kenta pointed out. He was a bespectacled boy, around Henry's height, wearing a rather smart short sleeve shirt for such an informal outing. His partner, MarineAngemon, was floating around his head. He was a tiny winged pixie-like digimon, with heart on his chest and wearing a gold collar and a permanent grin, chirping merrily without a care in the world.

"Well everyone's here now and Jeri's brought us some food to eat, so let's have a picnic!" Takato declared. The de facto leader of the group, Takato never left home without his signature goggles, something which has been associated with him for the last few years.

"Aww, but we were just about to start a game of tag!" Mako complained, a young boy wearing a blue t-shirt and white shorts.

"I'm sure there'll still be food left over once you've had your fun and games, you can go play and come join us later," Ryo assured them. The oldest of the group, Ryo seemed to have a carefee attitude, while somehow embodying the essence of 'cool'. His partner, Monodramon, was already with the small group consisting of Ai, Mako, Calumon and Guilmon. A purple dragon with yellow highlights, Monodramon's happy and playful personality hid a darker, more feral form that Ryo's partner usually took, yet today he was just enjoying playing with the other Tamers and their Partners.

"Thanks Ryo! Suzy, you, Lopmon and Terriermon should join us!" Ai called out, a young girl wearing a maroon dress. The twin sister of Mako, they both looked up to Suzy ever since they first met, and soon treated her as their leader, ever keen to do what Suzy was doing, no matter how weird or crazy it might seem. With that, the group of tamers broke into 2 groups, one which sat down to have a picnic, the other spreading out for game of tag.

"I swear those kids have so much energy, it's like they've taken too much sugar," Impmon sighed. The partner of Ai and Mako together, Impmon was a purple creature, with pointy ears and tail, wearing a red handkerchief and gloves.

"Did you realise how old you sounded just then?" Renamon noted. The partner of Rika, she was a fox-like humanoid digimon with yellow fur, bushes of white highlights and wore violet gloves with yin-yang imprints on them.

"Oh yeah, toots? Well you have a few grey hairs yourself," Impmon retorted.

As the two digimon engaged in a rather interesting debate about digimon aging, with Guardromon chipping in every now and again, the Tamers on the picnic mat were involved in a very different topic.

"Seriously, chumley, we need to change your look, something that gives you more of an edge, otherwise you're never gonna get laid," Kazu 'sagely' advised Kenta, "And cute as he might be, I don't think your Partner is gonna help shed your metro image" he said, glancing over at the pink pixie digimon, who joined in on the tag game and was currently being chased by a very determined Calumon.

"There's nothing wrong with caring about my appearance, and MarineAngemon is a Mega!" Kenta fought back.

"Dude, unless they like digimon as much as we do you're gonna sound like a nerd to all the girls when you explain MarineAngemon like that," Kazu teased.

Jeri giggled at the two friends arguing, "I remember there was time when you guys thought being into girls wasn't cool."

"Yeah, but that was before you grew a great pair of ti-OUCH!" Kazu recoiled as Rika sent a punch into his side.

"Careful what you say, Shioda," Rika threatened. "Keep your perverted things to yourself."

Kazu rubbed the spot where Rika made contact, "Dammit, that really hurt! Ryo you better control your woman."

At this simple phrase Rika began to blush heavily. "Oh please, I didn't even hit you that hard. A-And I'm not Ryo's woman!" she stammered, trying to regain some composure.

"Yeah yeah, well that doesn't matter," Kazu continued, "cos starting next week, we'll be in high school. And you know what that means."

"High school girls!" Kenta blurted out, before going almost as red as Rika. As Kazu grabbed his shoulder proudly for 'taking steps to becoming a man', Jeri turned to Takato with a worried look on her face.

"You don't care about that stuff, do you Takato?" She asked anxiously.

Takato rubbed the back of his head, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, "Of course not, I'm too, er, young to worry about that stuff."

"You're the same age as all of us, Takato, don't try and kid yourself," Henry pointed out. "In any case I'm glad we're all finally going to the same school, what's it like Ryo?"

Ryo, who was heading into his second year at the high school, just shrugged. "You get used to the change from junior high to high school pretty quickly, but other than that it's pretty much the same. One thing they may emphasise is club involvement, but don't worry I've got you covered."

Before the others could ask what he meant, all their phones started to ring. When they picked it up they were all greeted by the same person, someone who was once their enemy and now by a twist of fate their 'employer'.

"Good afternoon, Tamers," said Mitsuo Yamaki, Leader of Hypnos, "We just got word that a group of digimon has Bio-Emerged near the train station on the other side of town. They're not too big, so it could be good practise for Kazu and Kenta to take them on."

"You betcha, c'mon Kenta." Kenta nodded and turned towards the park.

"MarineAngemon! We've got to go, some digimon have appeared!" Kenta called to his partner.

"Okay!" the pink pixie replied, floating back towards him as they headed towards the park's exit.

"Hey, tinhead! We've got a job to do, get your butt moving already!" Kazu called to Guardromon.

"Very good, Kazu, let's journey forth to victory!" his partner rallied, running to Kazu's side.

"We'll probably take a while, so we'll see you guys next week at Opening Ceremony!" Kazu called to the other Tamers, as he and his partner hurried off after Kenta and MarineAngemon.

* * *

After a couple more hours, the day finally drew closer, casting an orange glow over the entire park as the Tamers packed up their things to leave.

"We'll take home Ai and Mako, they live along the way to our homes," Jeri said as she went with Takato and the twins towards the park exit along with their digimon partners and Calumon. "We'll see you at school!"

As the group walked off, Henry detected a slight spring in Takato's step.

"Noticed have you?" Rika said, as Henry turned towards her, "Can't believe gogglehead hasn't made a move yet. They couldn't be more obvious of a couple if they held a neon sign above their heads."

_Look who's talking_, Henry thought, looking between Ryo and Rika. "Maybe they've secretly hooked up and haven't told us."

Rika shook her head. "A girl like Jeri wouldn't keep something like this all bottled up. Especially something that lovey-dovey," the red-head sighed, "Ah well. Ryo and I are heading in the other direction, so we'll see you at the start of term."

And with that they made their move, leaving the Wong gang heading towards the train station on their own.

As Henry's other three companions slept on the train, having run themselves into a state of exhaustion, then gorging on food until they were in perfect bliss, Henry's mind started to wonder. The city lights streaked by as the deep blue night sky came up, and Henry began to think about last night. He had a strange feeling, as though something big happened in his dream, but couldn't quite put a finger on it. Something had stirred within him, a feeling that he might have figured out if Terriermon hadn't smacked him into reality the next morning. Tried as he might, however, Henry couldn't remember the dream, and let out a deep sigh of discontent as he stared into the night sky on the way home.

* * *

**Author's Note**: More than anything this was simply a way of introducing the other characters. I apologise in advance if any of them seem out of character, I kinda wrote them based off of my memories of them and quickly glancing through some episodes. Also, even though I don't think it was changed in the english version I aged Ai, Mako and Suzy up by 2 years, reducing the age gap slightly between the Tamers. Therefore in the original Tamer series Ai and Mako would be 6 years old and Suzy would be 9. I figured it would be important to keep the age gap small to make the relationships seem more personal, especially between Suzy and Henry.

I take it from the response that last chapter's competition didn't really work out and the clues were too vague :P . The inspiration for my title was from an anime called Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, a really interesting show which may seem complicated and confusing at first but got me hooked on it really fast, and I highly recommend it if you have the time. How is that related to this story compared to the other Horizon-themed shows out there? One of the key points in the show was probably the inspiration behind me writing this story, but I'll explain that in a later chapter.

Now as always there are two sides to every story, and I think I've been neglecting her long enough...also I like ellipses...


	3. Born Anew

Born Anew

_3 years ago, Shinjuku_

Pain. At that moment in time, that was her strongest emotion.

Among the streets of Shinjuku walked a 12 year old girl. She was dressed in a gothic Lolita style, with her hair tied into two pigtails held by black ribbons, and had a forlorn look as she strode on aimlessly. Though they had only been together for a few months, Alice McCoy had grown closer to Dobermon then she could have ever anticipated. And in a few short moments he was gone.

She knows that how she feels right now is selfish. The Tamers needed the ability to Biomerge in order to defeat the D-Reaper. Through Dobermon's sacrifice, they were given hope in believing that they can stop this monster once and for all. Bringing down the D-Reaper would mean peace for both the Digital and Human Worlds.

And yet she felt heartbroken. Though they didn't have a Digivice like the other Tamers Dobermon was still her partner, and she cared for him just as much as the Tamers did about their partners. After learning that your closest friend must be sacrificed in order to save the world, how could you not have a moment where you wished you could just run away together? Maybe they could have escaped to some other place in the Human World, and hope the Tamers can defeat the D-Reaper some other way.

But Alice and Dobermon knew that their peace would not have lasted, and the D-Reaper would have consumed both worlds if it were not for their intervention. As she walked on she could feel a pain in her chest, a hole in her heart where Dobermon used to be…

"Alice…"

As she turned round Alice saw the last of his data, floating around as red and blue specks in a circle, before the last parts of Dobermon faded away. Letting out a tired sigh, Alice began walking again, not caring about the destination. She could already feel the pull as she took one step at a time, her body slowly fading away.

_I cannot stay here_, She thought, with each stride making her more transparent. _Not yet…_

In her final moments in this world Alice took in her surroundings, remembering that all this was for the greater good. And with that in mind she crossed over, back to the Digital World and back to her dreamless sleep…

* * *

_**Awaken**_

She could hear the command. A strong but not forceful tone, reaching for her, calling her back into the realm of the living. There was a small smile, as Alice floated back to her consciousness. She knew, after so long, that she was approaching the time. Soon she would finally be able to return home. After what felt like an eternity in blissful slumber, Alice felt herself being pulled towards an awe-inspiring light, shining so brightly that Alice had to close her eyes before she was blinded…

_Present day, Digital World_

"Oh, I hope she's okay…I wonder what she'll think of me. Maybe I should adjust my buckle, o-or maybe do something with my hair? Maybe I should try a different dress? What am I saying, I'm not wearing a dress! Oh dear…"

In spite of all her experiences with the phenomena that is the Digital World, Alice was not expecting to wake up to this mumbling. Slowly but surely, Alice began to open her eyes. After the initial bright spots from adjusting to the room's light, Alice found herself looking at the top of an ornate four poster bed. Looking to her side she noticed the white drapes that would usually cover the sides of the bed, but in this case was pulled aside to show off the rest of her surroundings. On the other side of the room was a window, giving view to the grasslands outside with the spring sunlight shining in to greet her. Next to the window was a floor length mirror, though from her current angle she couldn't see herself lying on the bed.

"G-good evening! I mean morning. Well technically it's nearly midday, so I guess good midday? Oh no I'm babbling again, um… h-hi…"

Alice turned to the other side of her bed. Standing there, fidgeting nervously was a very peculiar digimon. She appeared to be based off a bunny, but with an extra set of ears. Her entire body was pink, with the tips of her ears and the end of her hair, of which there was only one, highlighted in violet. Her forehead, arms and body were covered with yellow crescent moons, and a moon buckle sat on top of her chest, clasping a ribbon together. In this moment she was fiddling with the buckle, trying to straighten it into a more presentable appearance, yet she only succeeded in moving it a couple of millimetres to the right and back again.

"Hi there," Alice said kindly, slowly pushing herself up into a seated position on the bed. _So my voice hasn't changed too much_, she noted, as she tried to put the nervous digimon at ease. "What's your name?"

"I-I'm Lunamon, it's very nice to meet you!" she managed to say, before throwing herself headfirst into a low bow. Alice smiled to herself as she shook her head.

"There's no need for any of that, I'm nothing special," Alice said as she reached down and raised Lunamon's hand, causing the digimon to look up. She gave Lunamon a warm smile, and with those simple actions Alice could tell that the pink bunny was finally starting to relax a bit. "Call me Alice."

"Okay…Alice…" Lunamon began, slowly becoming more confident in herself, "I hope you had a good rest. The DigiGnomes and I have been working really hard to make this transition as smooth as possible for you, so if there's anything that you need don't hesitate to ask."

"Working? How long have you been taking care of me?" Alice enquired.

"The Digimon Sovereigns returned your physical form a couple of weeks ago, and we've been taking care of you while your consciousness made its way back here."

"I've already been here for two weeks?" Alice was surprised, but as she thought about it she didn't really have a clue what to expect for re-emerging in the Digital World.

"Yup! Um…" Lunamon was suddenly back to her nervous self again, "Do you want to see what you look like now? I'm told it might not be what you are used to…"

"Er, okay." Alice agreed after a moment, wondering about the meaning behind Lunamon's words. Sure she felt something about her was different, but she figured it was just getting used to a physical form again. Lunamon perked up quickly, and soon helped Alice out of bed and over to the floor length mirror. When Alice reached it and looked at her reflection her eyes widened, and felt her legs give way as her knees buckled.

"Careful there!" Lunamon was quick to catch Alice before she hurt herself, "I understand this might be a shock, especially after being away for so long."

"But…is that really me?" Alice asked Lunamon but saw her reflection's lips ask the same question. After the pink digimon gave a nod she regained her composure, and once again Alice stepped in front of the mirror to look at herself properly. No longer was she the young, 12 year old gothic Lolita who helped the Tamers. There standing in front of her was a girl who was well into the stages of womanhood, wearing a simple but elegant white gown. As Alice turned one way, then another, she noted every feature, right down to her blond hair, which now reached the small of her back. In some respects, she actually reminded herself of…

"My mother…" Alice said out loud, looking at herself one more time before turning to Lunamon, "How did the Digimon Sovereigns give me this body? How long has it been since the D-Reaper attack?"

The pink bunny scratched her head in thought, "I'm not quite sure of the specifics," Lunamon began, "but I think the Sovereigns created your new form by collecting data about your family and how they grew up. Oh, and the D-Reaper attack was about 3 years ago."

"3 years?" Alice thought about it, before glancing at herself in the mirror from a side view. _I guess it makes sense then_, she reasoned with herself, _after all, in the Human World I would be 15 by now_.

They made their way back to the bed and Alice sat down, trying to take in all that's happened today.

"If you would like you can have a moment to yourself, maybe this was more than what you expected," Lunamon offered.

"Yeah, no kidding," Alice lightly joked. Lunamon nodded and as she walked towards the door something else came to Alice's mind. "Hey Lunamon?" The pink digimon spun around at the door, looking inquisitively at Alice, "Did the Sovereigns say how long it'll be before I return to the Human World?"

Lunamon looked apologetic at this question, "I'm sorry, the Sovereigns wanted you to experience your new body first, plus the DigiGnomes still need to help you before you can go back. Though they say it shouldn't be more than a few weeks, and in a few days you will be allowed out of this place! With supervision of course."

Alice sighed as she thought how long a few weeks might be, but gave Lunamon a gentle smile, "Thanks for telling me Lunamon, and for all the hospitality you and the DigiGnomes have given me while I was here."

Lunamon blushed slightly, but was clearly happy that Alice was okay, "No problem! If you need anything just come through the door and call out for me, and I'll be right over to help you. I'll see you later!" As the door closed Alice could hear the digimon talking to herself, "She was so kind and pleasant, I don't know what I was worried about really…"

Alice had a small chuckle at the pink bunny's parting words. _She definitely is a character_, Alice thought as she lay on her back, stretching out one of her arms and looking at the back of her hand. _So I've been away this time for 3 years. I wonder how things have changed in the other World…_ As Alice pondered how different the Human World could be compared to when she last visited, a warm feeling rose up inside of her, and with it came a smile. For so long she had been away, just floating in a dreamless slumber. And now, after so many years, she can finally return, back to where her family is and back to her home. At long last, Alice McCoy was back in the Worlds.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Initially I started to explore more of the relationship between Dobermon and Alice, but after a few paragraphs I decided to save it for another chapter so that I can go into more detail.

I can only imagine what it might be like for a girl to wake up in a body 3 years after starting to grow into a woman. For guys we simply get taller and our voices get deeper, but for girls there are a lot more physical changes to the body, which I will not go into great detail about :P Also something that I've realised while writing this story is that I'm really bad at describing things. Sometimes I wish they created a sequel to the Tamer series or that I could draw well so that I could show you what I'm imagining in my head. While I may not be able to give you a visual of the characters or places, I can help with the Digimon, since I'll be using their creations. So if the description of a digimon doesn't seem clear just look it up on the Digimon Wiki to get a better idea.

That's all for now, hope to see you next time, where we'll be back in the Human World!


	4. New Places with Old Faces

New Places with Old Faces

Henry was spending the last few minutes in front of his bedroom mirror, making sure everything was in place. His reflection showed a boy wearing a cerulean blue blazer and grey trousers, straightening out a green school tie, while making sure his hair was swept to the side as neatly as possible. As he began to make finite adjustments to his general appearance, a green-tipped bunny came into the room, shaking his head as he looked at his Partner.

"Dear, dear Henry," Terriermon began, "Since when did you get so vain? All this talk about what matters on the inside and yet you barely even look yourself anymore!"

"First of all," Henry replied, attempting to comb aside a particularly stubborn hair, "I don't look any more different than before, maybe just a little bit more groomed. And secondly, this is high school! First impressions count for a lot here, so what's wrong with looking like I didn't get caught in a tornado on the way to school?"

"I don't know," Terriermon said to Henry's reflection, scratching his chin before shrugging, "It just seems silly to me. I say you should just greet new people like I greet new Digimon."

"I don't think 'Bunny Blast'ing them would help me get on good terms with them, especially at the start of term."

"It seems to work just fine for me. They just show up and I go BAM! Welcome to the Human World with a healthy dose of butt whooping."

"True, but how many of those Digimon do you have to spend the next 3 years with? Or how many do you keep in touch with after you've 'greeted' them?"

"That's a very good question," Terriermon said with a hint of mock-speculation, "I wonder whether bits of data can send postcards. We should find the next Digimon who Emerges and give him a pen and paper before kicking him into next week."

"I'm guessing if they're willing to write to you then they would probably be safe to stay. We've always said that so long as they can control themselves the Digimon are allowed to stay in the Human World for as long as they please."

"Yeah, but since when have we come across a 'friendly' Digimon?"

Henry paused to think about this. After going through all their battles in his head he sighed at not finding one Digimon that they've allowed to roam around in the Human World. "Fair enough," he concluded, before starting to adjust his tie. "Anyway, what are you and Lopmon going to do today? You do realise that bringing in stuff toys are not very common for high schoolers, right?"

Terriermon started to flap his oversized ears, partly to attempt to fly and partly to amuse himself. "Don't worry about it, Renamon apparently has something planned for us to do while all of you are in school, we'll probably see you at the end of the day."

As Henry went through his school bag, making sure everything was packed in for his first day, a knock on the door was heard.

"Henry, your mom says you should think about leaving soon," came Lopmon's voice, as she started to open the door, "Otherwise you might miss the train and you don't want to be late on your first day of-what, what's wrong?"

Lopmon was looking between the Digimon and his Partner, since they were both staring at her, each with a very different expression on their faces. Standing in the doorway was Lopmon in a surprisingly well crafted kimono, complete with long sleeves and an _obi_ to tie at the back. The material had a pearl sheen, with floral petals which worked well with Lopmon's chocolate skin. Tied to one of her ears was a pink flower, completing the picture.

Henry had a very good idea of who gave that to the pink-tipped bunny, but had to ask just to make sure, "Er, Lopmon," Henry said, biting back the laughter, "who gave you that kimono?"

"Oh this?" Lopmon's eyes seemed to sparkle as she twirled around, giving Henry and Terriermon a better view of the entire dress, "Suzy made it for me. Isn't it great! She said she needed to have a model so naturally I volunteered. Your mom said it looks very good on me and I wholeheartedly agree!"

In one of the rare moments of his life, Terriermon was speechless, complimented with a look of genuine surprise on his face. When he finally snapped out of his stupor he jumped off the bed and turned Lopmon right around and frog-marched her back to Suzy's room.

"Okay sis," Henry could hear Terriermon talk to his fellow bunny as they walked down the hall, as well as the familiar click of sandals that Lopmon must also be trying on, "let me tell you about a little something called Stockholm Syndrome, but first let's get you out of this dress."

"Aww, but Terriermon…" Lopmon began to complain.

"Nah ah ah, we don't want all of Suzy's hard work to get ruined, do we? We don't know what Renamon's got in store for us, so be a good little Digimon and take it off."

"Okay…"

With one final confirmation that everything was there, Henry zipped up his bag and headed towards the door, passing by the kitchen where his mother was currently cleaning up, and grabbing his lunch on the way out.

"Oh by the way, Henry," Mayumi called out as he was putting on his shoes, "Did Lopmon tell you? I want you to pick up some salmon on the way home. Ryan and Jamie are coming back for a couple of days so I'm going to cook a couple more dishes for dinner tonight."

"Sure thing mom," Henry replied, before stepping through the door, finally ready to begin his journey to the beginning of high school.

* * *

West Shinjuku High School was not an elitist school by any stretch of the imagination, yet they still provided some of the best facilities for their students. Equipped with its own pool, athletics field and some of the latest in cutting edge technology, the Board of Directors intended this school to allow its students the best possible chances for them to reach their maximum potential, while still making it affordable for the parents to send them. With the majority of the funding coming from the government and benefactors, West Shinjuku began as a prototype for a new type of school, to give students a fair chance at life no matter what background, and so far it has produced outstanding results. With both their pastoral and academic activities being renowned throughout the surrounding region, Henry couldn't help but feel in slight awe as he approached the gates of his new school, surrounded by students all wearing the same uniform as they headed towards the same collection of buildings.

As agreed upon earlier that week, Henry found the other first year Tamers standing by the entrance. All the boys were wearing the same blazer and trousers combination as he did, but the girls had a bit more colour to their uniforms. With a green bow instead of a tie and a green skirt with a white stripe near the hem, Jeri and Rika seemed happy enough with their new attire, something which couldn't be said about the boys.

"Seriously, talk about conforming," Kazu said to the others as Henry approached, "I thought we were encouraged to unleash our creativity. How does wearing the same thing as everyone else show individuality? We are being stifled by the Man, people!"

Rika rolled her eyes as far as she could. "Oh please, Kazu. Just because you have to wear a uniform doesn't mean it will stop you from 'unleashing your creativity'. All it does is just identifies you with West Shinjuku High to the general public."

"Besides, students have always found ways to make the uniform their own, while managing to stay within the school rules." Jeri chipped in, before she and the others greeted Henry and began to walk towards a large gathering of students in front of several notice boards. This point in time was always nerve-wracking for students, since the boards declared which class, and therefore which students, they were going to spend the next year with. Even though they didn't realise it, all the Tamers were holding their breaths, hoping to see all their names under the same heading. As a clearing formed they all stepped forward, and began the frantic search for their name and class.

Jeri was the first to find her's. "Hey guys," she called out to the others, "Come over here, check under class 1-B!" As the Tamers gathered around her billboard she crossed her fingers and began scanning for their names too.

"Hey, I'm here!" Takato exclaimed, causing Jeri's heart to ever so slightly flutter. Both Henry and Rika also confirmed their places in class 1-B, leaving just two Tamers left to complete the set.

"There it is, 'Kenta Kitagawa'!" Kenta punched the air as he found his name. All eyes were now on Kazu, who was now speed-reading through the notice board, praying it would show him mercy.

"Yeah yeah, that's great, now all you guys get to be all chummy with each other while I'm in some other class room all alone and HOLY CRAP I'M IN 1-B!"

At long last Kazu found his name and, after a short but very public jig with Kenta, the Tamers went off to their new classroom while being led by one of the second years who volunteered to help the new students. Yet even with all the elation, Henry still felt something was odd.

"Hey Rika," he tapped the red head on the shoulder, signalling her to come to the back of their little convoy. She understood and lagged behind until they were out of earshot of the others.

"What's up?" Rika talked quietly as they paused to swap into their _uwabaki_.

"I know it's great that we're together and all, but don't you think it's kinda, you know…"

"More than a coincidence?" Rika shrugged, "I thought about that, but who would want to orchestrate something like this? Putting 6 teens in the same class would probably require a bit of pull with the higher ups. Maybe we really were just lumped together by chance."

"Yeah, maybe I'm just being a bit paranoid…" Henry tried to reason with himself as they entered their new classroom, choosing a group of seats at the back closest to the windows.

Over the next few minutes other students filed in, and soon they were getting a better picture who their classmates would be. But as time went on there was one key person missing, and after the bell rang for the start of school chatter started to break out.

"So who do you reckon our home room teacher is?" Jeri started off, with Takato and Kazu also turning around to speak to the other Tamers.

"In a place like this, probably some old, by-the-books sort of guy." Kenta reasoned.

"Hey Rika, you went to a posh school like this one," Kazu pointed out, causing her to glare at the Tamer. "What sort of people teach here anyway?"

"I didn't go to a 'posh school' doofus. In any case the teachers in my old school weren't that interesting, so I don't remember most of them." At that point the door at the front of the classroom opened. "Well here's our homeroom teacher, why don't you see for yourself?" Rika suggested.

Kenta stood up slightly to get a better view. "Hey I think it's a wom-" suddenly all the blood left the Tamer's face, leaving the others to give him a questioning look. "Sh-she's back…" was all Kenta managed to say before returning very carefully to his seat.

Before the other five could discuss what happened they heard an all too familiar voice.

"All right students settle down…" the teacher began, with each step emphasised with a click from her shoes.

Jeri, Takato and Kazu span round immediately, just to make sure who it was. She may have looked a couple of years older, but there was no denying her.

"Why is she _here_?! I thought she stopped after we left!" Kazu whispered urgently.

"…unfortunately I would have been here on time had it not been for some Neanderthal cutting me off at my exit…" continued the teacher as she strode up to the front desk.

"Maybe she only stopped teaching elementary school and came here to teach high schoolers instead!" Takato looked as though he wanted to dig a deep hole and escape as quickly as possible.

"…I do hope that by the time all of _you_ learn to drive you would be better than that idiot, but statistically speaking…" she sighed and put her bag down and picked up a piece of chalk, proceeding to write on the blackboard.

Jeri had a very different look on her face compared to the others. "Come on, she wasn't too bad, I actually enjoyed her classes!"

"That's because you were never punished by her!" All three of them stage whispered back to the brunette. Rika looked at Henry but he just smiled. He met her a few of times before, but this would be the first time she was his homeroom teacher. _This is definitely gonna be an interesting year_, Henry thought to himself as he sat back and waited for the teacher to complete her introduction.

With the last stroke on the blackboard she put the piece of chalk down and turned to face her class.

"My name is Miss Nami Asaji, and as of today I will be your new homeroom teacher. Welcome to West Shinjuku High School."

* * *

**A/N:** Now how can you have a Tamers story without Miss Asaji? :P

Sorry for the long wait between updates. Coursework, projects and overseas holiday stopped me from working on this story. To compensate I'll upload the next chapter within this week, as a way of saying thank you for being patient with me :)

I thought about using a real school in Shinjuku, but decided making one up would be easier. All my knowledge of the Japanese school education system came from...the internet and many anime :P The uniform for West Shinjuku High is a tribute to _Accel World_, which I would recommend if you haven't seen it yet.

I've always loved the sarcastic tone of Miss Asaji, and the fact that in the English version they used Lara Jill Miller (the voice of Kari in Adventure 1 and 2) was a great inside joke, so I wanted her in my little tale somehow. Hope to see you soon!


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